Cinematic visionaries are a rare breed, people such as F.W. Murnau, who pioneered the use of shadows with "Nosferatu," or Walt Disney, who showed that color and music could be a vibrant combination with :Fantasia." To that list we can surely add director-animator Jean-Francois Laguionie, whose film "The Painting" ("Le Tableau") is one sublime, surreal trip.

It's a foray reminiscent of M.C. Escher, the guy who painted those endlessly interlocking staircases on college dorm posters. Laguionie posits a simple question: Do paintings have an interior life?

The story opens inside an impressionist painting, where the Alldunns -- the most fully realized of the unseen painter's creations -- are having a party. They are snobs, these Alldunns, looking down on the Halfsies -- characters not completely colored in -- and the Sketchies, who, as their name implies, are little more than outlines. One Alldunn, Ramo, is in love with a Halfsie, Claire, whom the other Alldunns regard as an outsider. Think "West Side Story" or "Romeo and Juliet."

Ramo is determined to gain acceptance for Claire, which takes him to the edge of the canvas and out into the artists' real-world studio. There, he, Lola (Claire's best friend) and characters from sundry other paintings in the room interact, taking a whirlwind trip through Carnival-time Venice in search of the artist. Ramo is convinced that if the artist will complete Claire's color scheme, the other Alldunns (not a very nice lot it turns out) will have to accept her.

It's a delightful mind trip to say the least, brilliantly realized in colors that scream off the screen and a musical score as bombastic as anything in "Fantasia." The thematic canvas is broad -- How does artistic mood influence the creating of a panting? Do caste systems exist in creative realms? What role does color play in our perception of worth? -- by taking us on a picaresque journey that might favorably be compared to "Alice in Wonderland."

"The Painting" is no one-trick pony. The styles and texture of the animation varies as much as the colors, and the plot resonates with a fable's drama. For better and worse, these are characters we can identify with.In the end, of course, Laguionie's message is clear: In art, as in life, a simple drawing is often more beautiful than a finely polished painting.

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